


Sticking the Landing

by tatertimetot (aformofmotion)



Series: Bright As Starlight [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 10:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14494662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aformofmotion/pseuds/tatertimetot
Summary: “Five minutes," the Doctor says to seven year old Amelia Pond. “Give me five minutes, I'll be right back.”This time, it isn’t a lie.





	Sticking the Landing

**Author's Note:**

> Some dialogue has been used verbatim from the episode _The Eleventh Hour_ , as this is an alternate universe retelling of that story.

Amelia runs back to her room, pulls her suitcase out from underneath the bed, and starts packing. If Aunt Sharon was home, and if she was paying attention to Amelia, which is unlikely enough that it isn't even worth thinking about, she probably wouldn't have liked the idea of Amelia running away with a strange man with a real live time machine. Adults never liked the idea of doing anything fun or interesting.

She puts on her duffle coat and mittens and smushes her big wooly hat onto her head before taking a another look around her room. She doesn't plan on coming back here ever again, so she doesn't want to forget anything she might decide she wants later. The clock says it's been three minutes since the Doctor's time machine wheezed out of existence like it had never been there at all.

She drags the suitcase out to the garden and sits down on top of it to wait, kicking her feet against the side of it impatiently. She hears the wheezing sound before she sees anything and jumps up to have a better look around. Maybe the magic box would appear somewhere different this time. But, no, when it inches it's way slowly back into her sight a few second later it's in exactly the same place, albeit standing upright this time. And... smoking?

She's trying to decide whether she should go open the door herself when it bursts open and the Doctor stumbles back into the garden, almost tripping over her in his haste.

"Amelia!" he shouts, waving his arms excitedly. "I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing!"

"That's good," she says.

"Well, for a certain definition of good, I suppose. You're already out of the house, and that's definitely good, because Prisoner Zero is _here_. Somewhere." Then he seems to notice her suitcase for the first time and points at it enthusiastically, like point at it is the same thing as asking a question.

"You said I could come with you," Amelia says. It's not _quite_  a lie, not quite the truth, but maybe he won't notice.

"Did I? What about your aunt?"

"She won't mind. She hardly notices I'm here anyway."

The Doctor frowns. "That's not very nice of- no, wait! Prisoner Zero! Prisoner Zero is here, and I should really, really deal with that."

"How?"

"By being much cleverer than it is." He looks her over like he's trying to decide whether to tell her to stay outside or not. "Might be dangerous."

Amelia squares her jaw. "I'm not a little kid."

"No, of course you're not. Still, if you _wanted_  to wait here..."

"Can I wait inside your time machine?"

He casts a dubious look at the door and gives a half-hearted attempt at pulling it open. "No, I didn't think so. She's still redecorating. Won't let us in until she's done."

"Oh." Amelia looks down at her boots, then back up. "Then I want to come inside and help you. It's _my_  house."

"All right, that seems fair. But stay where I can see you and-"

He's interrupted by the voice from the other side of the crack that wasn't really in the wall, sounding like it's coming from everywhere all at once. "Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."

"What does that mean?" Amelia asks, craning her head to look around the garden.

"I think it means the jailkeepers are here."

"I don't see them anywhere."

"Me neither, and I don't like it one bit. Do you have a computer?"

"I'm seven." He looks at her blankly. "No."

"Unfortunate. What about a  tv? Radio?"

"Yeah, inside."

"Okay, that'll have to do." He thumps the door of his box in a way that makes her think of the way Aunt Sharon bumps her friend Margo's shoulder every time she swears she's going on a new diet. "Obviously can't use any of my own equipment. Gotta be more careful where I aim next time."

Amelia wrinkles her nose curiously but doesn't ask what he's talking about. She thinks this is probably one of those times when getting an answer is going to be more confusing than not getting one, and anyway she wants to get Prisoner Zero out of the house before Aunt Sharon gets home.

"Come on," she says, grabbing the Doctor's sleeve and dragging him back toward the house.

* * *

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded," the voice says again. This time it's coming from the radio the Doctor is holding his sonic screwdriver to, rather than being projected directly to the house. He isn't sure if that's better yet. Amelia is watching him with rapt attention even though there's no way she could possibly understand what he's trying to accomplish. "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Oh, that's new," he says, peering at the radio in concern. "Incinerated?"

"Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"What does incinerated mean?" Amelia asks.

"To destroy something with fire. You won't like it much if they incinerate your house."

"But they can't do that! Can they?"

"Oh, probably. But don't worry about it, I've got this totally under control." As if this new body of his is directly conspiring against him, the radio slips out of his hand before he's even finished speaking. It bounces once and then rolls across the floor.

He and Amelia stare at it for a couple seconds before she looks at him skeptically. "Really."

"Yes, really." He picks the radio up and looks it over. It’s completely fine, barely even a scratch. He spins the dial just to prove his point.

"Repetez. Le Prisonnier Zero wird der menschliche-"

"Wait, what?"

"What what?" Amelia parrots.

"That's not... that's actually on the radio. They're not just broadcasting it here, to us, it's on the actual radio station." He flips through a few more stations, a few more languages. "It's on _every_  radio station."

"Is that bad?"

"It's not good."

He crosses the hall and turns on the tv. The Atraxi's eyeball takes up the entire screen. "-will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

He changes the channel, but nothing changes. He uses his sonic to pick up channels the house isn't wired up to be receiving, and aside from the language coming through the speakers, it's the same thing on every one of them.

"Okay. Okay, so. It's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world."

"Why?"

He barely glances at her. "You're really not going to like the answer."

"I didn't like moving to Leadworth and I didn't like having a crack in my wall. Tell me anyway."

Now she has his attention. Beautiful, stubbornly brave human child. Humans never really appreciate the bravery of children, maybe because they're so used to having them around. He switches the tv off and turns to look her in the eye. "The human residence. I thought they were talking about your house. Prisoner Zero came through the crack here, that would make sense, that would be _reasonable_  of them. For a certain definition of reasonable, anyway. But no. No, no, no, of course not. They say 'the human residence' and they mean the entire planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship, and if Prisoner Zero doesn't show itself, they're going to incinerate the Earth."

Amelia's eyes are the size of saucers and he thinks maybe he should have sugar coated that a little bit more.

"You're going to stop them, right?" she asks.

"Oh, you're amazing," he breathes without really meaning to. "Yes. Yes, Amelia Pond, I am absolutely going to stop them. And you're going to help me. Okay. Planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core? They're going to need a forty percent fission blast.  But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium sized starship, that's 20 minutes. What do you think, twenty minutes?"

"Um. Sure."

"That's the spirit. Twenty minutes. Okay. Something I've missed, something, something, oh, I had it and then I lost it again." He snaps his fingers a few times. "I see it! How long have you lived here?"

Amelia shrugs. "A while, I guess."

"How many rooms on this floor?"

"Five."

"Are you sure? Count them for me now."

"Is this going to help save the planet?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay." She pointed at them each in turn. "One, two, three, four, five."

"Six," he said, staring right at it.

"Six?" He thinks she's following his gaze, but he doesn't dare look away for fear he'll lose it again. Perception filters are tricky like that and he's not entirely sure he's finished putting himself back together yet.

"Has that always been there?" she says after a long minute.

"Yeah. Maybe you've seen it out the corner of your eye sometimes, but you ignored it. A whole room you just don't notice."

"Why?"

"There's a perception filter all around the door. Makes you never want to look."

"No, I mean, why's it there? What's the point?"

He offers her his hand. "Let's find out together."

* * *

Once he has her hand safely clasped in his, the Doctor moves toward the invisible door and pushes it open slowly. Amelia isn't sure what he's expecting to find inside. She's not sure what _she's_  expecting to find inside either, but it certainly isn't a perfectly ordinary guest bedroom, the sort her Aunt Sharon is always complaining that they don't have.

They move inside carefully. The bed is made, like someone prepared it for use and then forgot it existed. There's dust on the bedside table. The Doctor peers behind the door and leaves it open. 

"There's nothing here," she says, disappointed.

"Whatever's here stopped you from seeing the room," the Doctor says. "What makes you think you could see it?"

"Can _you_  see it?"

"Not yet. Doesn't mean it's not here, though."

"Do you think it's Prisoner Zero?"

"That's the most likely answer. Most useful, too, cos then we could just turn it in all nice and easy and solve two problems at once."

There's a light coming from under the closet door. She points to it. "Doctor."

"Oh." He lifts his weird buzzing stick and points it at the door. "Oh, there you are. Amelia, stay behind me."

Amelia moves behind him and peers around his legs. The light under the door has gone out.

"Let's see what you are," the Doctor murmurs. He reaches for the doorknob, but it turns on it's own before he can touch it. He snatches his hand back, then takes an involuntary step away from the door. Fortunately Amelia is paying enough attention to scoot back as well, so they don't end up in an ungainly heap.

The closet door swings open slowly to reveal a tall woman with red hair and a pinched-looking face.

"Aunt Sharon?"

"No," the Doctor says. "Look at it. Really look. It's a multi-form, made itself a disguise out of the way your aunt looks. Mind you, it'd need a psychic link to do that, a live feed. I thought you said your aunt wasn't home?"

"She's not," Amelia says. "She hasn't been home in a few days."

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated," the television reminds them.

"I'm _working_  on it," the Doctor snaps. "At least ten minutes yet, you still have to seal off the upper atmosphere, don't _rush_  me."

Amelia says nothing. She doesn't take her eyes off the thing that is definitely not her Aunt Sharon. Now that she's looking at it like the Doctor said, it's obvious that it's not her. The eyes are all wrong, and it's smiling slightly the way Aunt Sharon never does, and it's arms are just slightly the wrong shape.

"Amelia."

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Don't worry too much about it, but I think your aunt might be a bit in a coma right now."

" _What?_ "

He gestures at the thing in the closet. "It's a multiform, see? It can disguise itself as anything, but it needs a life feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind."

"What does that mean?"

"It needs to keep her alive in order to make itself look like her."

"The pattern is alive," the thing wearing Aunt Sharon's face says. It's lips don't move. It just opens it's mouth and the words come out like a speaker. It also has _far too many_  teeth. "For now."

"Good," the Doctor says. "That's very, very good. For Amelia's aunt, certainly, but especially for you. Now, take the disguise off. The Atraxi will find you. Nobody has to die."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

"But that's not fair," Amelia says. "We didn't do anything. You're going to just let them burn our planet?"

"Yes," Prisoner Zero says. "Little Amelia Pond who prayed every night for someone to come, you've listened every night into the cell they kept me in. What makes you think I would let them _catch_ me?"

"Okay," the Doctor says. "Okay, that's fine. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you?"

"Cracks?" the Doctor asks. "Plural?"

"The Doctor in the Tardis doesn't know!" The noise it makes is so strange it takes Amelia a second to realise that it's mean to be laughter. The humour doesn't touch it's eyes. "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

"I really wish I had time to ask you what you were talking about," the Doctor says. "I really, really do. But here's the thing. Those Atraxi ships up there, the ones we can't see from inside this house, they've been scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He twirls the silver thingamajig through his fingers and points it to the window. "And I think they just found us!"

Amelia turns to look and find the Atraxi's eyeball taking up the entire windowpane.

"The Atraxi are limited," Prisoner Zero says. "While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked _you_ , Time Lord, not me."

"Yeah, that's true. But this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. I've been broadcasting this signal since we came into the house, broadcasting on all frequencies everything that's been going on. So they've _seen_  you, this form you've taken, this one right here. They know it's you."

"Then I shall take a new form."

"Oh, stop it. You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"I have been here for months."

"Yeah, but you only had time to make the one connection. Otherwise you'd have changed out of that form by now, you'd have run, escaped before we opened that closet door. You're only stalling now. Why?"

"They will kill me."

"I'm sorry about that." Amelia looks up at him, trying to tell if he really is. If Prisoner Zero is trying to get the whole world blown up, _she_  isn't sorry it’s going to die.

"Prisoner Zero is located," the Atraxi outside the window intones. "Prisoner Zero is restrained."

Aunt Sharon's form ripples, then melts off of Prisoner Zero, but she doesn't get to see what it really looks like because between one blink and the next it’s gone. The Atraxi turns it's eye away from the window and begins floating away.

The Doctor yanks her toward the window, then remembers he’s holding her hand and lets go. He shoves the window open and leans out it, pointing his sonic screwdriver in the Atraxi's direction. "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? _What?_  Did you think no-one was _watching?_ "

The Atraxi turns in midair and floats back toward them like giant snowflake. Amelia shoves the Doctor to the side so she can see out the window too.

A beam of light comes out of the Atraxi's eye and sweeps over the both of them, then the Atraxi focuses on the Doctor.

"You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it."

"Is this world important?"

"Important? What's that mean, important? Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi? Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

"No," the Atraxi says after a moment of processing.

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

"No."

"Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many. And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?"

The Atraxi looks right at him silently for so long that Amelia starts to fidget, wants to ask what it knows that she doesn't. "The Doctor happened to them."

"That's right. And that's me. I'm the Doctor."

If an eyeball could get pale that's what the Atraxi would be doing. It bobs in place once, then turns and moves away so fast Amelia is tempted to say it zooms.

"And don't come back," the Doctor shouts jubilantly. Then he sags and leans back into the house, tips himself onto the floor. "I think I may have overdone it a bit. Are you all right?"

"Yeah." She sits down on the edge of the bed and looks at him, lying on the floor in clothes that don't fit him right. The whole thing is starting to feel like a dream she’s going to wake up from. Then Aunt Sharon will lecture her for sleeping in too late and pass out on the couch with a wine bottle, and the crack in her wall will be just an ordinary crack, and she'll still be living in Leadworth and it will be [awful].

"I just need to catch my breath a little." The Doctor pushes himself up to his feet. "That's better. Now then, are you sure one suitcase is going to be enough?"

She stares at him in surprise. "I can really go with you?"

"Why couldn't you? Already said you could, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but grown-ups lie about stuff like that. A lot."

"I am _not_  a grown-up," he says, sounding genuinely offended. "Well, I sort of am. And I never will be. Understand?"

"No."

"Me neither. Just the one suitcase?"

She nods. "I don't have that much stuff."

"Good! Good. Travel light, that's a good idea. Not like me. I always carry loads of unnecessary stuff around. For example." He reaches into the pockets of his coat and pulls out a yoyo in one hand and a jammy dodger in the other. The second he tries to use the yoyo it falls off the string and rolls across the floor. Amelia giggles. He gives the yoyo a traitorous look, then sniffs the jammy dodger, gives it a lick, and makes a face.

Amelia puts her hands on her hips. "Let me guess. You don't like it?"

"I don't know. That was more lint than jammy dodger."

She makes a face. "Ew."

"Ew is right. How long was that _in_  there?" He tosses it over his shoulder, right out the still open window. "Nevermind that, we were going?"

"Yes, please."

* * *

"So, first things first," the Doctor says as he leads Amelia back to the Tardis. He scoops up her suitcase from the garden without slowing down. "Although I don't know why you'd do first things any way other than first, them being first things and all, we find out where the Tardis put the bedrooms."

Amelia makes a confused face at him. "The what?"

"The Tardis. That's what my time machine is called. The Tardis. T-A-R-D-I-S. Someday I'll tell you what it stands for, but for right now." He flings the doors open and looks around. "Oh, she's really outdone herself, haven't you, old girl?"

He drops Amelia's suitcase just inside the doors and puts his hands on the sparkling new console. It's a much brighter design than the coral desktop had been. Sleeker. Absolutely gorgeous. He runs his hands over the controls and then begins pushing buttons and pulling levers.

"Amelia, be a dear and shut the doors, will you?"

The Tardis lurches into motion as soon as Amelia does. He grins at her. "There we go, safely tucked away in the vortex. No worrying about that aunt of yours stumbling in." He claps his hands together. "So. Bedrooms. It's still the middle of the night. What do you think?"

Amelia yawns, then looks surprised at herself for yawning.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He follows the stairs up the side of the room and pushes the door open. Ordinarily he'd go exploring without directions, but he's put his curiousity aside for now to let the Tardis lead them onward. He peeks into the room she leads them to, and then steps out of the way to let Amelia through.

She drags her suitcase into the room and props it against the wall. "It's pretty empty."

There's a bed in the room just her size, and a dresser on the wall just big enough for all her clothes. "That's so you can decorate it yourself. Tomorrow."

"Really?" Amelia asks, like he's never had a room she could actually do anything with before.

He feels a flash of irritation at her aunt, wherever she is, and shoves it down out of the way. "Really. If you need anything else, I'll be right next door." He hesitates at the door and watches her tuck herself in. "Good night, Amelia Pond."

"Night, Doctor," she mumbles in his general direction, already more than half asleep before the door even clicks shut behind him.

In the corridor, he presses his hand against the wall and the Tardis pulses steady comfort and security into his head. The night has been long, and the regeneration on top of saving the world has exhausted him.

"Thanks, dear," he says, shuffling off to the bedroom she's put together for him. His face hits the pillow with his eyes already closed.

* * *

Amelia wanders out of the barren bedroom the next morning, barefoot and rubbing her eyes. She looks around the console with the kind of wonder most kids her age reserve for the very best Christmas presents. And, really, isn't that what this is? The thing Santa sent her after she asked for help?

The Doctor is already at the console, and he waves at her over his shoulder as she enters the room. "Morning, sleepyhead. Where do you want to go for breakfast? I'd offer you something from the kitchen, but I had a poke around while you were sleeping and I couldn't find it."

She runs down the stairs at throws her arms around him. "I'm really glad I didn't dream you."

"Imagine how I'd've felt if you had." He gives her a little push toward the couch. "Go sit down, it might get a little bumpy. Oh, I know! They have this mall on Stavokeem, biggest breakfast buffet you ever saw, what do you think?"

Amelia climbs onto the couch and buckles the seatbelt. "Does it have aliens?"

"Does it have _aliens_ , she asks. It's another planet, silly, of course it has aliens." He nearly leaps across the console to hit a particular button. "Of course, technically, you'll be the alien."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm an alien everywhere. Hold on tight!" He grabs and lever and the Tardis pitches violently to the right for a moment. "See, bumpy."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

He runs around the other side of the console. "Absolutely sure. It's just really hard to do with only one set of hands. I'd need, oh, at least six. Imagine that, six sets of hands on one body. That's a fairly uncommon configuration you know. Way less common than four. But I think I'd look silly with that many hands, don't you?" He seems to realise that he's lost her because his head pops up over the side of the console to look at her. "Is that what you're wearing?"

She looks down at her rumpled, slept in clothes, and then over at the suit that looks like there’s no way it ever fit his frame. "You can talk."

"Your clothes are in your suitcase. _I_  have to go find the wardrobe." He steps back from the console. "Go get changed, it shouldn't take me more than ten minutes."

* * *

A much longer time than ten minutes later, the Doctor finds his way back to the console room. Amelia is sitting on the couch in clean clothes, swinging her feet.

"You said ten minutes," she says.

"Sorry, sorry," he says sheepishly. "I took a wrong turn at the study and ended up in the gardens. Oh, and I found the swimming pool. It's not in the library anymore. Didn't even see the library, now that I think of it. But, anyway, how do I look?" He twirls for her.

She looks at him very seriously before pronouncing, "Ridiculous."

" _What?_  I do _not!_ "

"You do."

"I'll have you know this is a _very_  cool outfit, given to me by the High Lady Erenlor of... it's the cape, isn't it?"

She giggles and nods. "You look like Dracula. With silly hair."

He sighs dramatically and throws the cape onto the floor. "No one ever appreciates a good cape. Better?"

"Yeah." She hops off the couch.

"And my hair's not _silly_."

Amelia rolls her eyes. "Yes, it is. You're weird."

"Nothing wrong with being weird, it keeps me from getting boring." He pushes open the doors and leads her out into the mall. "After breakfast we'll head into the housewares section and you can pick out some furniture, okay?"

"You use your time machine to go _shopping?_ "

"And topple corrupt governments, but let's save that til you're older. You're, what, nine?"

"Seven."

"Eight it is. Come on, then, Amelia Pond, let's go see what the universe has in store for us today."


End file.
